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Ferndale Police Say Power Outage Played Roll in Friday Morning Burglary of Anita's Kitchen

Thieves break door and take about $200 from cash register, police say.

 

Anita's Kitchen employees got to work on Saturday at 5:30 a.m. and found a pile of broken glass near the side door.

When they entered the restaurant, they noticed the cash register was missing. 

"The power was out, the lights were off," Ferndale Police Lt. Detective William Wilsons said. "It appears they took advantage of the power outage."

About $200 was inside the register, Wilson said.

The outage started on Wednesday at about 5:30 p.m. and continued until Saturday at 6 a.m. Through the 2 1/2-day ordeal, as many as 6,000 customers were without power, some the entire time.

DTE Energy claims that the excessive heat – temperatures were in the 90s all last week and hit 100 degrees in some parts of southeast Michigan on Thursday – and stressed equipment led to the outage.

Due to the outage, there was no surveillance and no generated alarm. Wilson said Ferndale Police would dust the place for fingerprints in order to identify the suspects.

This is the only reported incident due to the outage, Wilson said. 

"No reports of any other incidents during the blackout," he said.

The Ferndale Fire Chief Kevin Sullivan on Saturday, after the power was fully restored, reported that there were no major or significant runs as a result of the outage.

Related Topics: Ferndale Power Outage 2011 and Power Outage

Linda Baker

11:05 pm on Monday, July 25, 2011

Thanks for all of your up to date information on our towns predicament - wonder what would have happened if all of our empty homes had had powered up - we would have burst into flames!

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G-Money

12:44 pm on Thursday, July 28, 2011

This burglary might have also been aided by DTE's warning of the scheduled outage the night before. I also live south of nine mile, on the west side a block away from Anita's, and we got a pre-recorded message from DTE that the power would be shut off at 2:30 am, and come back around 9 am. I hate to say it, but this crime was probably committed by someone who lived nearby and also got this message, or at least by someone with some inside knowledge of the restaurant.

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